PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State notched an 82-80 victory over the University of Washington at Beasley Coliseum Tuesday. Sophomore guard Lia Galdeira scored a game-high 28 points for the Cougars who improved to 9-6 overall and 3-0 in Pac-12 play, their second 3-0 start in conference play in the last three seasons. Washington dropped to 8-6 and 1-2 in conference. WSU notched its first win over the Huskies since 1995.
Four Cougars scored in double figures led by Galdeira who added four assists and four steals while playing 35 minutes. Junior center Shalie Dheensaw recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Junior guard Tia Presley added 13 points after hitting three 3-pointers and senior forward tallied 10 points and four blocks. Washington State shot over 46 percent from the field and hit 10 threes while scoring 19 points off of 15 Huskie turnovers. The Cougars made 11 steals and dished out 15 assists.
Washington shot 45 percent from the field, including 53 percent in the second half, and finished with 10 threes and 16-of-27 at the free throw line. WSU went 8-of-13 from the charity stripe.
Washington State built a double digit lead midway through the first half after putting together a 16-4 run. Galdeira and sophomore guard Alexas Williamson got things going with back-to-back threes before Romberg nailed a jumper and Presley added three of her own from the right wing at the 8:13 mark. Presley followed with another three before she capped the run with a fastbreak layup that was started on sophomore Dawnyelle Awa's steal, giving WSU a 30-18 advantage with 6:27 remaining in the half.
In the final minutes of the opening period, the Huskies used an 8-0 run to cut the Cougar lead to five but Galdeira answered by scoring the final six points for WSU including a layup at the buzzer that sent Washington State into the break leading 42-32. Galdeira led all scorers with 15 points.
Galdeira opened the second half with a three and Romberg later hit one from the top of the key to push the lead to 11. Washington countered with a 12-1 run that later grew to 19-5 and resulted in a 58-55 Husky lead at the 12:34 mark.
The Cougars came right back with a 6-1 spurt to regain the lead as Dheensaw grabbed a rebound and put one back up and in before hitting a jumper from the baseline on the next trip down. The teams traded leads over the next four minutes before Washington State scored five straight to go ahead for good. Galdeira turned a steal into a layup and following a stop on defense, Romberg hit her second three of the night for a five-point WSU lead with 5:12 remaining.
Both teams traded threes as Washington stayed within two but Dheensaw came up big in the final minutes, grabbing two clutch offensive rebounds and quickly went back up for two baskets, giving WSU a four-point lead with 58 seconds left.
The Huskies got a quick basket to make it a two-point game but fouled Galdeira on the ensuring WSU possession and she calmly sank both attempts to go back up four with 15 seconds left. Washington quickly answered again with layin to cut the WSU lead to 82-80 with four seconds left and then had to foul Presley on the inbounds pass. Presley missed the first free throw but the Huskies' heave from three-quarters of the court away missed, giving the Cougars the two-point victory.
The two teams will meet again Saturday in Seattle at 3 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.
